Tuesday, November 30, 2010

We've got turkey. Wonderful, moist turkey. We were gone over the weekend, so this is the first night of using up the leftovers.

The original recipe is Chicken & Rice, and is quite a regular guest over at my parent's house. My family loves it, and it's been around for years. This is a great meal in terms of using food storage. Basically, all the ingredients are items that you probably already have sitting around. This casserole is also easy to make, but it does take awhile to cook-but it is well worth it.

So here you go:

Turkey & Rice or Chicken & Rice

4 Cups of diced cooked Turkey or Chicken

1 Stick of butter

1 Cup of Rice

1 Packet of Lipton Onion Soup

3 Cups of Chicken Broth

1 Can of Cream of Chicken Soup

French's Fried Onions

In a 350 degree oven, stick the butter in a 9 x 13 pan & melt the butter

Monday, November 29, 2010

This weeks photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is scenic B&W. I started to go through my pictures & I found this:

I am always amazed when I stand on a beach and look out over the ocean. The blue waters are so vast. This shot is of my husband & son; it being my oldest son's first time playing in the pacific ocean's water.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Well...not exactly, but I didn't have a recipe so I winged it. I was shopping at Sam's Club the other week, and of course, my kids & I had to stop by the sample carts. That day, they were giving away samples of pies. Yummy. So much so, I decided to make my own. And it turned out delicious.

Good thing there's another holiday coming up, I might be making another one.

Cranberry-Apple Streusel Pie:

3 Apples-peeled & diced {I used Gala, because that is what I had in the fridge}

1 12 oz bag of fresh Cranberries

1 Cup of Sugar

1/2 Cup of Cranberry Juice

2 T Cornstarch

1 Pie Crust {Unbaked}

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Sugar

6 T Butter

Peel & dice the Apples & throw them in a pot. The great thing about this part is that I snacked on the apple peels and didn't feel guilty at all {you know, since they're healthy & all}.

Add the cranberries, juice & cornstarch. Stir it around and put it on the stove, cooking over medium heat. It'll take awhile for it to come up to a boil and thicken up. Just make sure to stir it around every once in awhile.

In the meantime, in a food processor, add your flour, sugar & butter. This is going to make your streusel topping.

Pulse it around until it looks like this.....like cornmeal....well, sort of.

Look at that yummy pie filling :)

Pour it into your pie crust.

Add your streusel topping

And because I was going to baking it for awhile, I tented my pie with foil {I didn't want the top to burn}. Cook in the oven @ 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Take the foil off and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Also {I learned}, it would be smart to put it on a baking sheet; because if the filling bubbles up and pours over, it'll be on the cookie sheet and not the oven.

When it's done

It'll look yummy and delicious like this...I was very tempted to eat it right then....but I resisted.

Friday, November 26, 2010

It's one of those dishes that is made for family get togethers. It's a recipe that has been in my family for awhile. It's super simple.

There is something about pistachios. They are just yummy.

So if you need to add an easy, food storage worthy, jello salad to your arsenal, I highly recommend this.

Watergate Salad:

1 Can of Crushed Pineapple or Chunks {just chop the chunks}-make sure to keep the juice

1 box of Instant Pistachio Jello Pudding

Half a bag of mini-marshmallows

1/2 C of chopped Walnuts

1/2 Tub of Cool Whip

In a bowl, pour the juice from a can of pineapple.

Add the box of pudding

Wisk them together

Add the pineapple

And the walnuts

And then the marshmallows

And lastly the Cool Whip

Mix everything together, making sure you get the pudding mixed with the other ingredients {you want an even color of green}. Refridgerate {you can make this salad the day before & it'll be good} or Eat.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

If you remember from a previous post, my brother is stationed over in Okinawa, Japan, and unfortunately does not have a kitchen. He does however, have a microwave. My sweet friend Tiffany {from Simply Complicated} sent me some recipes for microwaved cake to try out. Tonight, my husband wanted something sweet {he wanted to make a cake...but I didn't want to have a huge cake around considering Turkey day is just 2 days away} so I told him that I would try out these recipes.

They worked. You must be warned though...do not expect cake cake {like what you would get out of the oven}; my husband said it was more custard-ie. I like it...my husband ate it...all of it.

So here it is:

Microwaved Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In a bowl, add 4 T of flour & 4 T of sugar

Add an Egg, 3 T of Milk, and 2 T of Oil

Then add some vanilla....since this was just a plain cake {no chocolate}I think I added somewhere between 1-2 tsp of the vanilla.

Mix it all together.

In a coffee cup {that's been sprayed}, line the bottom with cherries {I had some marichio cherries in my fridge} and a pineapple ring.

Pour in your batter. Cook it in your microwave for 3 minutes.

Not the prettiest thing....but like I said, my husband ate it; and it tasted good.

So if there ever come a time in your life that you need to make a dessert using the microwave, give this a try.